Target Practice
by Colhan3000
Summary: Yasopp is saddened that he won't be around for his sons seventh birthday. Wanting to cheer him up six year old Luffy decides to spend the day with him.


This is going to be a little bit different and I hope you all like it.

_**I don't own One Piece Anime or Manga**_

**This is to explain what is happening in the story in regards to Luffy and Usopp's ages in this story. Luffy's birthday is May 5th and Usopp's birthday is April 1st so in this story March is finished and April has started and Usopp turns seven while Luffy will turn seven next month. Luffy is six and **

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**Target Practice**

Luffy grinned as he and Yasopp the sniper and sharpshooter of Shanks crew walked down the streets of Fuschia Village. Normally the youngest of the D brothers would be seen playing around Shanks ship or hanging around the Party's Bar talking to the red haired captain. But today to the surprise of everyone in the Party's Bar instead of walking right up to Shanks and asking him about his latest adventures out at sea he had walked right up to the blond man and asked if he could give him a shooting lesson. The reason was that Luffy, being as sensitive to people's feelings as he was had noticed the sharp shooter had been sad lately and had heard one of the other pirates in the crew saying that Yasopp's sons birthday was coming up and the man was down about missing his sons seventh birthday. So being the golden hearted little guy he was he decided to spend the day with Yasopp. Everyone called him either stupid or simple minded but when it came to peoples feelings Luffy understood all too well despite his age. Which was why on the first of April six year old Luffy was walking to the beach; a slingshot made of a branch and rubber band in hand and dragging the blond man with the other. He just hoped Shanks wasn't lonely all by himself back at the bar. Hopefully he could make it up to the red haired man, maybe give him a present. He could give him a nice crayon drawing and play tag with him tomorrow…if he didn't have hangover.

"Why are you taking such an interest in marksmanship all of a sudden Anchor?" Yasopp asked calling the boy by the nickname Shanks had given him and he had to smile when the boy pouted before going back to his care free attitude and continued dragging him down to the beach.

"I want to be able to aim better" Luffy said yanking on Yasopp's arm when he slowed down his pace.

"This isn't to try and impress me so you can join the crew is it?" Yasopp asked, Luffy could be really sly when he wanted to be. Luffy was always looking for ways to get Shanks to let him join from asking to training everyday and trying to teach himself to swim. To answer his question the boy turn his head up to him, grinned and then shook his head to say this wasn't about joining the crew in anyway.

He was surprised when the raven haired boy ran up to him instead of his captain and asked if he could teach him to hit targets. Shanks had laughed and told him to go ahead and have fun but they weren't allowed to use guns. Yasopp had to smile at that; if his captain ever got married and had kids he'd be one heck of a father. If he was back in Syrup Village he wouldn't ever let Usopp lay a finger on any kind of gun what so ever until he was at least sixteen.

Usopp…

It was his seventh birthday today wasn't it? He wondered how his son and wife were doing back at the village. He left when his wife encouraged him to go out to sea and he left shortly after Usopp was born and had joined Shanks crew sometime after. He wasn't a good father anyway…

"Yasopp come on!" the blond marksmen felt a tug on his arm as the seven year old dragged him the remaining distance to the beach. Yasopp set up some barrels in a neat row while Luffy placed a tin can on each one for them to shoot at. When everything was set up Yasopp pulled out the bag of tiny marbles they were going to be using as ammo and Luffy handed him the sling shot. As a marks men Yasopp was skilled with a gun and cannons and he had used a sling shot before. As a boy he had made his own sling shot out of a branch, rubber band and a piece of leather and used seeds or anything he could find as ammo and aimed at bottles and cans he lined up. He switched to guns when he was a teenager and by then he could hit his mark every time. As an adult he was as good as he said he was. "Come on Yasopp!" he felt Luffy tug on his trousers.

"Okay, Okay Anchor" Yasopp said smiling at the boy as he took a marble from the bag and put it into the sling shots leather holder "Now first thing you have to do is make sure nobody is in your range of fire" Yasopp said looking around and seeing nobody near them. He laughed a little as the little boy next to him looked around as well but in a more hurried fashion.

"Then?" Luffy asked

"Then take aim. Make sure whatever you're shooting at is between the two sticks of your sling shot. Try not to pull the rubber band too far back or you'll lose your hold…check your aim one more time…then shoot" Yasopp let the marble fly and hit its target dead on shooting the can off the barrel and onto the sand. He heard Luffy shout a cheer before running over to the barrel to retrieve the can. Bringing the can back he grinned as he pointed to Yasopp the point of impact…a neat round dent right in the very center of the can. Had he been using a gun he would have shot a hole right where the dent was and he would have been able to do it without damaging any other part of it.

"Yasopp that was cool!" Luffy said before holding out his empty hand "Can I try now?"

"Sure…just remember everything I just said okay?" Yasopp said taking the can and handing the boy the sling shot and marble bag; Luffy nodded and took a marble from the bag. First Yasopp had said to make sure nobody was around. He looked to the right and left and found no one and turned around to see if anyone was behind him finding nothing but the ocean. He heard a chuckle from the man next to him and looked up to see Yasopp smiling at him. Well at least Yasopp was happy compared to the past few days were he had been so sad. Feeling that he was indeed accomplishing the goal in which he set out to do he put the marble in the leather holder and took aim. Now how far was too far when Yasopp said not to pull the rubber band too far? Well he would just have to test it out first then. Luffy pulled the rubber band as far as it would go, however in doing so he had leaned back in order to make pulling the rubber band easier and was beginning to lose his balance. He wobbled around and before Yasopp could grab him so he wouldn't fall he lost his hold of the marble and it went shooting from the sling shot and flying off somewhere in the village but it didn't take long to find out where it had landed and what it had hit.

_**CRASH**_

Yasopp looked up from helping Luffy up to see where the sound had come from and his face held a look or worry when he saw where the marble had hit. It had gone through someone's window since one of the houses close to the beach now had jagged hole in it. Plus it had not been anyone's window but the Village Elder's window of all people! Already he could hear angry shouting from the house about disrespectful kids and juvenile delinquents as the door slammed open to revel an angry Village Elder dressed in his usual striped hat and pants and wearing his plain white collared shirt as he waved his cane around angrily. His eyes had to possibly be magnetized to this sort of thing because his eyes instantly turn to where he and Luffy were standing. As the old man began to walk over to them Yasopp grabbed the sling shot from Luffy's hand and pulled the boy to stand behind him. The Village Elder already didn't like Luffy hanging around his captain and the rest of the crew saying they were a bad influence and were turning Luffy into a bigger juvenile delinquent then his older brother.

Which Yasopp knew wasn't true at all. Luffy was just hyper, friendly and liked being around others and plus didn't have any male role model other then his brother around and had latched on to his captain. Nine year old Ace was not a juvenile delinquent either. He was just protective of the only family he had in the Village. The things the Elder called Ace a delinquent for were the fights that he got into and according to Ace himself each and every one of them had been in order to protect Luffy from bullies. Yasopp had not questioned the boy any further on the matter; Ace was not the type to lie and secondly he didn't look or act the type that would cause trouble on purpose. He wasn't going to have the Elder giving Luffy a tongue lashing today. It had been an accident plain and simple.

"You!" the Elder said swinging his cane in the air to point at the dark haired boy that Yasopp was hiding behind him "Honestly! Starting fights in the village, running around with hoodlums like them!" the Elder said swinging his cane over to Yasopp to indicate that he was talking about the Red Haired Pirate crew "Now you go and throw rocks through my window?!"

"Yasopp and his crew aren't hoodl…hooldrum…whatever it is you called them!" Luffy fumed and Yasopp had to smile. A group of pirates being defended by a six year old to anyone else might have seemed either ridiculous or flat out unheard of but for Yasopp it was nothing of the sort. The boy was friends with them, and Yasopp had learned not to long ago along with Shanks and Benn from Makino that Luffy didn't have many kids in the village his age and that small few that were his age found him strange or would rather pick on him…so whatever friends he managed to gain he became protective of.

"Elder it was an accident" Yasopp said holding his hands up and giving the older man a friendly smile, it had no effect on the Elder which didn't surprise the blond sniper at all.

"You have no place to talk! Showing off to the boy and then he decides to have a go at it himself and look what happens!" The Elder said pointing his cane over to his house with the jagged hole still in the window.

"Don't yell at Yasopp!" Luffy said starting to get more upset and mad as he stomped his sandaled foot to emesis even further that he wanted the Elder to stop yelling at the blond man.

"Who said it was Luffy?" the boys dark eyes that were normally filled with curiosity and mirth now looked up in pure shock at what the sniper had just said.

"What do you mean?" The Elder said still keeping that glare on him.

"I shot that marble…I was showing Luffy some more shooting tricks and I guess for once…I missed my target…guess I'm getting rusty." The Elder's glare narrowed before looking at the little boy who was now standing next to the pirate instead of behind him. Shaking his head he turned away swinging his cane around muttering and ranting about how three generations of a family could become so messed up. To Luffy and Yasopp's surprise the old man turned back to the pair to warn Yasopp that he would be helping to replace the broken window before finally going into his house and slamming the door.

"Yasopp" the blond sniper looked down at the boy and then ruffled his hair.

"Yeah Anchor?"

"You told a lie" Luffy had said it in such a serious tone that was so unlike him it was hilarious and Yasopp had to suppress the laughter.

"Yeah but…better I get in trouble then you any day" the blond sniper knelt down to Luffy's level ruffling the boy's hair again "It was an accident you didn't mean to do it and he was getting angry for the wrong reason anyway. Plus you and Ace are no juvenile delinquents" Yasopp patted the boys shoulder "And thanks for sticking up for the captain and my crewmates you're a good kid" before Yasopp knew it he felt something lung itself into him and grab him around the waist. Looking down he saw Luffy with a smile on his face and hugging him while nuzzling his face into his chest.

"Thank you Yasopp" feeling his instincts as a father kick in, but even before that he had wrapped his arms around his captains little shadow. He heard as well as felt Luffy giggle and little as he snuggled closer. Yasopp had to agree with his captain about the boy, he was just too damn adorable sometimes.

"Sure thing…why don't you head to the bar while I put everything back here?" Yasopp said pointing to the barrels and cans.

"Okay…Shanks is probably lonely right now" Luffy said grinning at the sniper "Bye Yasopp!" and with that the boy was off, running while turning up clouds of sand behind him before getting onto the cobble stoned path that led into the village. As he began running in the direction of the Party's Bar Luffy hoped that spending the day with Yasopp had cheered him up.

As he was putting the barrels away he had to grin. That boy was something else. He wondered if Usopp was anything the way Luffy was. Sighing remembering his son and today being his birthday again he looked out to the sea. He hoped his son was enjoying his birthday and wondered what kind of cake his mother must have baked. He had left Syrup Village then his wife kept telling him to go and live his dream of going out to sea, all the while holding their son who had been wrapped in a fluffy yellow baby blanket. He wonders still if he had the right choice when he left and he probably would always wonder if he made the right choice. He had also left feeling he was a terrible father figure and could not raise his son into a strong and brave man. But today when he had being teaching Luffy how to shoot he wondered if that was how it would have been had he stayed in Syrup Village. He still wanted to see him someday if he ever returned to Syrup Village. He still thought he was a terrible father figure…

But…

Yasopp looked in the direction the dark haired six year old had gone and smiled.

Maybe he wasn't a total failure as a father figure…

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**This is my first time writing Yasopp and I've only seen him three times in the Anime and a few in the Manga. I hope Yasopp wasn't OOC.**

**The thing with baby Usopp being wrapped in a yellow blanket.** **That's my way of putting Oda's ideas into my writing. Oda represents Usopp with the color yellow so I decided to make Usopp's baby blanket yellow.**


End file.
